April 20 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday.

What is this all about?

Here are the Top 5 April 20 moments in San Francisco Giants history

1964  home vs Reds 8th inning, 2-2, bases loaded, 2 out, Reds left fielder Bob Skinner misplayed a Tom Haller fly ball, allowing Mays to score the go ahead run in what turned out to be a Giants 5-2 win. Haller was the starting quarterback for the University of Illinois when he signed with the Giants in '58; three years later he was catching for the big club.  Haller could hit, except for his rookie season and the last year of his career his OPS+ was over 100 each year.  We moved him to the Dodgers in '68, it was the first west coast trade between the two organizations.  He came back as a bullpen coach in '77 and worked his way up to VP of Baseball Operations until being let go in '85.

1976 at Atlanta, we were down 8-1 after 3, but 3 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th, 1 in the 8th had us down 11-10 in the 9th inning, Dave Rader doubled home Chris Speier off Elias Sosa to tie the score.

1976 at Atlanta, same game in the 10th, Sosa's still in the game for the Braves - he gives up a 1 out homer to Gary Matthews for the final margin of victory.  A year later Matthews, who came up to the Giants when he was 21 and won the rookie of the year in '73, would be a Brave, signing with Atlana after the season as a free agent.

1984 home vs Reds, down 4-2 in the 8th, 1 out, bases loaded for Scot Thompson - he pinch singles home 2 off Tom Hume to tie the game - we'd go ahead on a Hume wild pitch and win 6-4.  Thompson was an actively bad major league player, sub-replacement for his 8 year career (so, of course, why not sign him as a free agent).  This was his first of two Giants seasons, his second ever Giants hit.

2012 at Mets, 3-3 in the 10th, 2 on, 2 out, Hector Sanchez singles off Frank Francisco, scoring Melky to give us the 4-3 lead, which would be the final score.   Sanchez had an OPS+ of 75 in five seasons as a backup catcher in San Francisco; my bet is no other organization ever gives him 600 PA.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

April 19 - Top 5 Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 April 19 moments in San Francisco Giants history

1966 at Cubs, 9-9 in the 8th after a game tying Mays single - he and McCovey were both on with two out when Don Landrum, who pinch run for Cepeda earlier (Cepeda had less than a month left in his Giants career) doubled both of them home off Ted Abernathy. We won 11-10. This was Landrum's only season as a Giant (this was his first Giants hit, he wouldn't have another for a couple weeks, he hits .186 for the season) and his last year in the bigs.

1986 home vs Padres, down 5-4 in the 7th, one out, one on - Chris Brown hits a 2 run homer off Lance McCullers, we go up 6-5 and that's the final score.  Chris Brown was a hard deal, drafted as a 17 year old in '79 - Chris Brown played rookie ball in the Giants organization at 17 years old; came up as a 22 year old in '84 and hit right away, finished 4th for rookie of the year in '85, had a 125 OPS+ in '86 and made the All Star team.  You know about this '86 team - 22 year old Will Clark, 24 year old Robby Thompson both come up to become the cornerstone of a resurgent franchise.  Brown was right with them, 24 years old, starting third baseman, had the highest OPS+ on the club.  A year later he was gone, dealt to the Padres on the fifth of July in a 7 player deal that brought us Michell/Dravecky/Lefferts.  Brown never played a big league game past the age of 27 and died in 2006.  2006!  Just 20 years after he beat Lance McCullers he was dead.  Brown wound up working for Halliburton driving a truck in Iraq for three tours; he died as a result of an apparently suspicious house fire.

Walk off 1987 home vs Braves - the day before, we walked off the Braves, here, in a game where we only got 5 hits, we do it to them again. 3-3 in the 9th, 2 out, runners on the corners, Matt Williams, (who homered in the 7th to tie the game; it was his first, that's right, his first ever big league homer as a rookie shortstop playing his 7th MLB game) grounds to second - but a fielding error by Glenn Hubbard allows Chris Brown (who hit a one out double) to score, and we win it 4-3, moving to 10-3 on the season.  This was our best start since '71 built on the back of an 8-0 record in one run games.

1997 home vs Marlins, we'd won 7 straight coming in but were down 2-1 in the 8th, 2 on, 2 out, Glenallen Hill plates them both with a double to right, that 3-2 score holds up.  Giants move to 12-3 on the season.  Hill played for 7 teams in his 13 year career, he had significantly more plate appearances as a Giant, who got his aged 30-32 seasons, than anywhere else.  He was a productive bat, particularly in 95-6; this was his final year in San Francisco, he went 0-7 in the NLDS against the Marlins and left as a free agent. Prior to coming to San Francisco he was once traded for a familiar name to Giants fans, Candy Maldonado.

Walk off 2013 home vs Padres, bottom of the 9th, Angel Pagan doubles down the right field line off of Luke Gregerson, scoring Andres Torres with the winning run.  This was a 10K, no BB game for Madison Bumgarner.  Willie Mays's wife died earlier that day.  Pagan's best year as a Giant was his first, 2012, he never quite got back to that level, he was limited to 71 games in '13 with hamstring injuries.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

April 18 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 April 18 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

1968 at Mets, 7th, down 3-2, bases loaded, two outs, 22 year old Danny Frisella came out of the pen to try to hold the lead against Willie Mays.  It went the way you'd figure, Mays cleared the bases with a double for the final margin of a 5-3 Giants victory.  This is post-prime 37 year old Willie Mays, who still had an OPS+ of 156 in '68 and was a 6+ WAR player.

Walk off 1973 home vs Atlanta, 3-3, bottom of the 11th, one out, Bobby Bonds homers off Tom House to take us to 10-4 on the young season.  We hadn't had a hit since the 5th before Bonds' game ender.  

Walk off 1993 home vs. Atlanta, 20 years later we did it to the Braves again, this time it was 12-12 in the bottom of the 11th, we had to score 4 in the 9th just to tie the game, and like Bonds in '73, Matt Williams homered (off former Giant Steve Bedrosian) to send everyone home.  Helluva game in what would be a helluva season for these two teams.  Braves got 5 in the first off Dave Burba, but 3 in the second and then again in the third put us up 6-5.  That lead lasted all of no innings, Bryan Hickerson and Kevin Rogers combined to give the Braves a half dozen in the 4th and we were down 11-6.  Williams homered in the fifth to pull us to 11-7, and we were still down those 4 runs, 12-8, headed to the bottom of the 9th against Mike Stanton:

Darren Lewis led off with a walk.
Will Clark singled him to third.
Matt Williams, who, as you've noticed, had a game, singled home Lewis to cut it to 12-9.
Barry Bonds doubled home Clark, chasing Stanton and cutting it to 12-10,  Still no one out.
Sacrifice flies by Robby Thompson and Todd Benzinger off Jay Howell tied the game.  That's where it stood for Williams three innings later.

Walk off 2007 home vs Cards, 5-5 in the 12th, 2 on, 2 out, Rich Aurilia singled home Randy Winn to win it 6-5 for the good guys.  This was Aurilia's return to San Francisco, he originally came over in the winter of '94 in a deal with the Rangers for John Burkett and spent most of the next 9 seasons as the Giants starting shortstop before leaving as a free agent after 2003.  He returned as a 35 year old backup in 2007 and retired as a Giant after the 2009 season.

Walk off 2012 home vs Phils, scoreless in the 11th, this had been a Cliff Lee/Matt Cain duel, Lee going 10 shutout innings and Cain going 9 while just giving up 2 hits, Here though it was Melky Cabrera beating Antonio Bastardo with a single that scored Brandon Belt for the game winner.  This was Melky's career half year, he had a 157 OPS+ and 5 WAR before a PED suspension.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!

This is (Not) a 2017 NFL Mock Draft

I do this every year; not a prediction, I'm selecting for each team. There's no bad pick for the Niners, I'm really hoping for a trade down.  Time permitting, I'll revisit this before the draft.  Rounds 1-2 of the 2017 NFL Draft. The Browns are going to pick Garrett.

1.       Cleveland   M.Garrett DE A&M 

2.       San Francisco J.Adams S LSU

3.       Chicago J.Allen DT Ala

4.       Jacksonville C.McCaffrey RB Stan

5.       Tennessee M.Lattimore CB Ohio St

6.       NY Jets M.Williams WR Clem

7.       LA Chargers M.Hooker S Ohio St

8.       Carolina S.Thomas DE Stan

9.       Cincinnati D.Barnett DE Tenn

10.   Buffalo C.Davis WR W Mich

11.   N Orleans R.Foster ILB Ala

12.   Cleveland  M.Trubisky QB UNC

13.   Arizona  P.Mahomes QB TTech

14.   Philadelphia M.Humphrey CB Ala

15.   Indianapolis  L.Fournette RB LSU

16.   Baltimore R.Ramczyk T Wisc 

17.   Washington J.Ross WR Wash

18.   Tennessee  H.Reddick OLB Temp

19.   Tampa D.Cook RB Fl St.

20.   Denver OJ Howard TE Ala

21.   Detroit T.White CB LSU

22.   Miami F.Lamp G WKy

23.   NY Giants D.Njoku TE Mia

24.   Oakland A.Jackson CB USC

25.   Houston D.Foster QB Clem

26.   Seattle  C.Robinson T Ala

27.   KCity J.Davis ILB  Fla

28.   Dallas C.Harris DE Missouri

29.   GBay J.Lewis CB Mich

30.   Pittsburgh J. Willis OLB K St

31.   Atlanta T.McKinley DE UCLA

32.   N Orleans T.Charlton DE Mich

       Rnd 2

33.   Cleveland J.Peppers S Mich

34.   San Francisco S.Jones CB Wash

35.   Jacksonville E.Engram TE Ole Miss

36.   Chicago K.King CB Wash

37.   LA Rams Z.Jones WR ECU

38.   LA Chargers G.Bolles T Utah

39.   NY Jets D.Kizer QB ND

40.   Carolina A.Kamara RB Tenn

41.   Cincinnati TJ Watt DE Wisc

42.   New Orleans C.Awuzie CB Col

43.   Philadelphia G.Conley CB Ohio St

44.   Buffalo M.Williams S Utah

45.   Arizona Z.Cunningham ILB Vandy

46.   Indianapolis D.Tomlinson DT Ala

47.   Baltimore C.Lawson DE Aub

48.   Minnesota J.Mixon RB OU

49.   Washington M.McDowell DT Mich St

50.   Tampa O.Melifonwu S UConn

51.   Denver E.Pocic C LSU

52.   Cleveland K.Hunt RB Tol

53.   Detroit T.Williams OLB Ala

54.   Miami D.Walker DE Fla St

55.   NY Giants S.Perine RB OU

56.   Oakland C.Wormley DT Mich

57.   Houston C.Samuel WR Oh St

58.   Seattle Q.Wilson CB Fla

59.   KCity  T.Tabor CB Fla

60.   Dallas G.Everett TE S Ala

61.   GBay  T.Moton G WMich

62.   Pittsburgh A.Witherspoon CB Col
63.   Atlanta D.Feeney G Ind

64.   Carolina D.Westbrook WR OU

April 17 - Top Five Moments in San Francisco Giants History

Yesterday

What is this all about?

Here are the top 5 April 17 moments in San Francisco Giants history.

Walk off 1960 home vs Cubs, 5th game of the third season of San Francisco Giants baseball, this was a 14 inning 4 hour game, with the score 3-3, Billy Loes, three innings into a relief stint, stayed in to hit for himself, led off the 14th with a single, was bunted over - and then scored on a Jimmy Davenport base hit.  Good guys win 4-3.

1964 home vs St Louis, 4th game of the season, down 3-1 in the 6th, Willie Mays hits a 3 run homer off of future Giant manager Roger Craig. It was Mays's 4th of the season (he hit two off of Spahn on opening day, I mean, it's Willie Mays). This was Mays's 410th career homer.

Walk off 1964 same game, now 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th, bases loaded, 2 out, Chuck Hiller with the literal walk off - he draws the walk off Ron Taylor to score Davenport with the winning run. Hiller was basically just a guy as the Giants starting second baseman, but even that totally collapsed in '64. He hit .180, he had an OPS+ of 37, it was really dreadful.

1988 at San Diego, 5th inning, down 2-0, 2 on, 2 out, Will Clark hits a 3 run homer off Andy Hawkins to put the good guys up 3-0.  We'd win this one 9-4.  It was Will's 50th career home run, he'd hit 126 more as a Giant.

2005 at Colorado 7th inning, down 5-3, two out, bases loaded - how about a Michael Tucker grand slam off of Byung-Hyun Kim.  We'd win the game 8-6.  Tucker was a bad Giant, a negative WAR player in over 800 plate appearances who earned 3.5 million and cost us a first round draft pick.  We moved him to the Phillies before the end of the season for a prospect who never made the bigs.

See you tomorrow.  Go Giants!